A Fake Version of Your Event Site Is Taking Attendees' Money

An AI-built copy of your registration page, one letter different in the domain, is selling tickets that do not exist and harvesting passport details.

Setting: Global medical congress, 3,000 expected, international delegates, three weeks out. Category: AI & Technology. Pressure level: Critical.

This page is the individual, citable address for this one situation: https://gatheringarchitecture.com/crisis-sim/scenario/fake-event-site

The situation

A delegate in Nairobi emails a receipt for €890 you have never issued. The site it came from is your design, your photos, your speakers — and a domain with a doubled letter. Your registration desk finds four more receipts in an hour.

First moves and what each one costs

• Warn your whole list immediately with the one real URL, and report the domain to the registrar, the payment provider and the national fraud or cybercrime authority in parallel — Warned delegates stop clicking within the hour. The registrar acknowledges the report, the card provider opens a fraud case, and the police reference number gives victims something to work with.
• Pursue the takedown quietly and avoid alarming your delegates — The site stays up for three more days. Nineteen more people pay. Silence costs more than embarrassment would have.
• Post a warning on social channels only — Your followers see it. The delegates being targeted by email do not. Reach is the wrong shape for the threat.

Preparation notes for this situation

• Register the obvious look-alike domains before you announce the event
• Publish one canonical registration URL and repeat it in every email footer
• Never ask for passport or payment details over email — then say so publicly, so a request that does is obviously false
• Keep a written line ready for victims: what to do about their card, their data, and their place at the event
• Report impersonation and stolen identity documents to the national fraud or cybercrime authority, and keep the evidence

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